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USITT to Bring Backstage Industry to Salt Lake City

USITT’s 2016 Annual Conference & Stage Expo comes to Salt Lake City March 16-19, bringing over 5,000 members of the production industry and turning the Salt Palace Convention Center into a spectacle of lights, projection, costumes, props, sound and special effects from fog to flying.

USITT 2016 showcases the world of live entertainment design and technology with 260 exhibitors of the latest tools to create live shows and 250-plus presentations, demonstrations, and celebrations of work by top artists in the field.

The four-day event also brings famous theatrical designers, including Royal Shakespeare Company sound designer John Leonard, Broadway set designers Anna Louizos and Donyale Werle, and multimedia artist Tupac Martir, USITT 2016 Keynote presenter.

The show’s estimated economic impact on Salt Lake City is over $5 million, with attendees filling five downtown hotels.

Some highlights:

Keynote presenter Tupac Martir, a renowned artist whose work includes Milan and Paris Fashion Week shows and the Coachella Music Festival, open the Conference on Wed., March 16, with a production involving lighting, video, and local performers.

Stage Expo: The huge exposition of the latest in entertainment technology features New Products Showcase, Innovation Stage, and special exhibits including the US exhibit to the 2015 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in Prague, Czech Republic.

SoundLab 2016: USITT is creating a special theatre environment with surround-sound system and equipment from Meyer Sound, d&b Audiotechnik, L-Acoustics, DiGiCo, Point Source Audio, and Shure. Presenters include John Leonard, international guest Sound Designer and Composer Junghoon Pi of South Korea, and Off-Broadway Sound Designer Elisheba Ittoop.

Diversity in the Arts: A dozen sessions on diversity and accessibility in live entertainment production include The Arts Are for Everyone; Building Diverse and Inclusive Environments into Our Programs, and Finding an Accessible Path to Technical Theatre. BroadwayBlack.com’s April Reign will be the featured speaker at USITT’s People of Color Network session on Wednesday, March 16.

USITT 2016 also offers several sessions on sustainable production, including a Greener Model Building Workshop led by Broadway set designer Donyale Werle (Peter and the Starcatcher) and a Sustainable Costume Design Round Table.

USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, is the non-profit serving the performing arts and live entertainment design and technology community. Its Annual Conference & Stage Expo, USITT 2016, is North America’s only complete production event for the backstage industry.